Shakespeare the Playwright

Part 1 The Tragedies: "Titus Andronicus"; "Romeo and Juliet"; "Julius Caesar"; "Hamlet"; "Othello"; "King Lear"; "Macbeth"; "Antony and Cleopatra"; "Coriolanus"; "Timon of Athens". Part 2 The Histories - The First Tetralogy: "Henry VI Part 1"; "Henry VI Part 2"; "Henry VI Part 3"; "Richard III"; "King John". Part 3 The Histories - The Second Tetralogy: "Richard II"; "Henry IV Part 1"; "Henry IV Part 2"; "Henry V"; "Henry VIII". Part 4 The Comedies: "The Comedy of Errors"; "The Taming of the Shrew"; "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"; "Love's Labour's Lost"; "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; "The Merchant of Venice"; "The Merry Wives of Windsor"; "Much Ado About Nothing"; "As You Like It"; "Twelfth Night"' "Troilus and Cressida"; "All's Well That Ends Well"; "Measure for Measure". Part 5 The Romances: "Pericles"; "Cymbeline"; "The Winter's Tale"; "The Tempest". Appendix: "The Two Noble Kinsmen".

Victor L. Cahn is Professor of English at Skidmore College. Among his other books are Shakespeare the Playwright: A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances (named an Outstanding Academic Book by Choice) and The Plays of Shakespeare: A Thematic Guide, as well as a critical volume on Tom Stoppard; Conquering College: A Guide for Undergraduates; a memoir, Classroom Virtuoso; and the novel Romantic Trapezoid. He has written numerous plays, several of which have been produced Off-Broadway and regionally, including the one-man show Sherlock Solo, which he has performed. Three of his scripts, Fit to Kill, Roses in December, and Embraceable Me, have been published by Samuel French. His articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Modern Drama, The Literary Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Variety.

?A useful guide for the general reader, as well as high school and undergraduate students, to Shakespeare's 37 plays. After a brief introduction outlining Shakespeare's life and career, Cahn carefully guides the reader through each play in turn, from first scene to last, using a mixture of quotation, paraphrase, and critical comment. His style is accessible and unpretentious, and his insights into the 'psychological consistency' of Shakespeare's characters--the main focus of the commentary--are stimulating and sometimes provocative. The bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and at the end of the volume, provide a guide to further study for the nonspecialist.?-Library Journal (on the first edition)